


Teen Titans: Highschool

by Djmellly



Category: Teen Titans (Animated Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Raven-centric
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-25
Updated: 2017-01-25
Packaged: 2018-09-19 22:18:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9462764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Djmellly/pseuds/Djmellly
Summary: A look at how the Teen Titans would have formed if Raven went to High school.Currently being rewritten: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14516850(Originally posted on ff.net. I just posted all the chapters as one for now, as the story needs to be rewritten. This is only posted as is so my friend can see my fetus writing style)





	

**Author's Note:**

> If you are reading this please feel free to leave comments and tell me what I'm doing wrong, or to give me any criticism.
> 
> This fic is being rewritten and the story will eventually continue here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14516850

Raven didn’t know what to do anymore. Without thinking about it raven stopped touching the pen directly and used her powers to write. She was thinking about her future, which by the way wasn’t looking so bright. If only she could spend the rest of her life locked away reading.  
She looked up .Right into the eyes of someone watching her. If she were anyone else she could’ve told you what colour they were. But she didn’t notice things like that, she noticed who the eyes belonged to. Richard ‘Dick’ Grayson.  
He looked shocked, she realized then what she was doing. Shoot she thought quickly grabbing the pen with her hand, pretending nothing had happened. I should be more careful she thought looking down.  
She felt his eyes on her, but more than that she felt his emotions; Disbelief and shock. But not as much as she expected after what he just saw. Lifting just her eyes, she looked at him with curiosity. He seemed to calm for this situation. He can’t possibly know anything she thought to herself. He must think he’s hallucinated .Raven put the thought away but throughout the study session a suspicion tugged at the back of her mind. Not just what had happened, but she could feel he hadn’t quite put it aside.  
He was after all Richard Grayson. What most called tall dark and handsome. He wasn’t into sports or anything really but most of the girls were into him. He had black hair which made his blue eyes really pop or made him look …ghostly, but with his muscles no one thought him ghostly..  
He doesn’t know anything she decides. I mean he only saw it for what... Like a split second? When the bell rang at the end of the lesson Raven hurried out quickly, it was lunch next, she could spend that time alone reading.  
But when she sat down she realized she had a shadow. Richard sat next to her. It wasn’t strange to anyone around as they often spoke. They weren’t friends, more like close acquaintances. It was strange to her after what happened and the fact that he chose to sit next to her, they usually talk as before mentioned not sit next to each other. He’s just being friendly she thought.  
She took out her book ready to read and ignore him.  
“Racheal ...” Too late.  
She looked up, “Yes Richard?” She asked looking up at him, trying to sound innocent.  
“Uhm...” He looked uncertain and cleared his throat, “how are you?” He asked, trying to sound casual.  
She closed her book and set it on the desk. This is gonna take a while. “I guess I’m fine.”  
After an awkward pause he said, “Well that’s good I guess.” He paused, sitting silently like he was debating something in his head. Finally he said; “I saw what you did earlier don’t even try to deny what happened.”  
Well this isn’t good, “Okay, I won’t.” She said trying to sound sure of herself. “But it has nothing to do with you.” She says in a tone that makes it clear she doesn’t want to talk about it.  
“But….” He tries to speak, but is quickly interrupted.  
“No,” She says with a firm voice as she picks up her book.  
He groans, frustrated at her unwillingness to talk and walks to his own group of friends. She breathes a sigh of relief and glances around the room, and then picks up her book to continue reading. The lunch period drags as Raven chose to not eat, but when the bell finally rings she heads to English.  
TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT  
When Raven finally got home after school it was 3 o’clock. She lived in a tiny apartment in a cheap building. Before she entered her apartment she greeted Mrs. Willard, her elderly neighbour. Mrs. Willard and her husband had pretended to be her grandparents at many parent evenings and treated her like family. They owned the building and knew Raven didn’t have parents, and allowed her to stay at a cheaper price.  
She entered her apartment, even though she didn’t pay a lot of rent she didn’t have much money for furniture. Her living room had a small couch and a bookshelf, but the books were spilling out all over the floor. She had a few hours free before her shift at the restaurant started at six.  
She took out her homework, but she was too distracted to do it. What am I going to do? She thought. He knows. She wasn’t sure what to do, she couldn’t just ignore Richard forever sooner or later she was going to have to confront him. She just didn’t know what to say to him. He could tell someone and they would reject her, they would chase her away. She didn’t want that to happen she had lived here for almost two years now, and though she had no friends she had Mr and Mrs Willard, whom she considered to be family. She didn’t want to leave, but her powers would force her to.  
She started to cry. I hate this, she thought I hate my powers. She knew that people would be afraid of her power, just as they had been on Azarath.  
She put those thoughts away until later and finished her homework before going to work.  
TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Raven hadn’t gotten a lot of sleep that night, she kept twisting and turning in her bed. She had nightmares about Azarath again, it had taken her months to get over that when she first arrived on earth.  
She stood up and made some strong coffee, she had decided she was going to stay, and try to ignore anything Richard may say. She liked it here in this city and would stay as long as she could. I just need to calm myself and meditate she thought I need to keep my powers in control.  
When she got to school the bel rang for first period, she always came at this time so she wouldn’t have to spend a lot of time with people. She was trying to be normal but sometimes all of these emotions got to be too much. Her first lesson was history, at least it wasn’t with Richard but she did sit next to one of his best friends; Wally West. She could see if he had told his friends anything.  
She walked slowly, her teacher wouldn’t mind if she came a little late. Before she came to earth she had looked into its history and it was paying as she always got an A in history.  
But she could only walk so slowly, when she went to sit next to Wally she felt his hesitation at her, not scared but he was preparing himself for something. Richard obviously told him, but how many other people know? Why is he even taking an interest, it was such a small feat of power. She sat down next to him and smiled, he smiled back; a big toothy grin. Why is he happy, almost excited?  
“Hey Racheal,” he said.  
“Hello Wally, How are you today?”  
“I am great, there is something I need to talk to you about.”  
Well he certainly isn’t slow.  
“Is this about something Richard told you?”  
“Yeah, Dick told me about this thing you were...”  
I cut him off, “I really do not want to talk about it.”  
His emotions wavered for a while, but shot right back up.  
“Please we don’t have to talk about it now, just come to our table at lunch.”  
“Why this doesn’t have anything to do with any of you, why are you so interested?” I ask really confused, what do they want?  
“I can’t tell you now but just...” He looked up at the teacher explaining something to the rest of the class, “Please, we just want to ask you something.”  
They are already treating me like a freak, what do they want to know. She prodded his mind, feeling his emotions, he didn’t seem to feel any differently towards her, he still saw her as a friend. “Okay fine... I will come even if I don’t know why you are so interested.”  
I turn away before he can say anything else ,and try listening to what the teacher is saying, why are they so interested?  
TTTTTTTTTTTTTT  
By the time lunch came Raven was really nervous, for what she didn’t know. When she entered the cafeteria she saw Wally and walked with him to the table. At the table they were heading to Richard, Karen, Roy and a girl she simply knew as Kole were already seated. Wally took his seat and Raven awkwardly stood there.  
“Hello,” she said feeling really out of place.  
“Hey,” said Kole in a friendly, slightly high pitched voice, “come sit next to me.” She scooted up to make place for Raven to sit.  
“Thanks,” she said taking her place.  
Karen, who sat on her left looked at the table in front of Raven, “aren’t you gonna eat?”  
“No, I’m not hungry.” She looked around at them, they all obviously knew about what happened but none of them felt odd with her around, they all just had a slight urgency, a need for answers. “Okay what do you want?”  
They turned to look at Richard, he considered it for a while, “Well Racheal I told them about what I saw you do yesterday...”  
“Yeah thanks for that.” She said sourly, Kole jumped at her tone.  
“I am sorry if that offended you, but they needed to know. What was that that you did? I mean all I saw was a black... a black energy envelop the pen and you didn’t need to touch the pen anymore. How did you do it?”  
Raven looked around at them, she didn’t know why they wanted to know, well if they were so interested she was going to show them. “Don’t resist too much.” She said to Karen who looked confused, but Raven needed to know what this was about.  
They all stared at her as she stared intently into Karens eyes, her mind seemed the strongest and least protected. She wasn’t going to push too hard. And it would be easy considering this was on the forefront of her mind. Raven pushed her way into Karens mind and looked for answers, Oh that’s why they want to know. She left her mind and Karen looked a bit confused, she touched her temple. Raven hoped she hadn’t hurt her too much. The rest of them were confused.  
She looked at Richard, “You want to find out if I am strong enough to join you?”  
There was shock around the table, “Did you just read her mind?” Asked Wally looking astonished.  
“No I just entered her mind to find out why I am being questioned. And no I can’t join, but I will keep it a secret.” Raven quickly stood up and walked away before anyone could do anything. They wouldn’t really want me to join, they weren’t even official but they were planning on making themselves public one of these days. Seriously I could never be one of the good guys, and curiosity and frustration had driven me to show them one of my other powers. I just hope they leave me alone.  
Raven didn’t want to deal with this anymore so she went for a walk.  
They were, or wanted to become, a group of teenaged superheroes. Richard was the ex-sidekick of Batman, and he came to Jump City ,only to discover there were other people around his age here who were metahumans and ex-sidekicks, that’s how he met his group of friends. That’s about all she picked up in Karens mind. I want to join them, to try and be good. But I’m not good, I was born from evil, how could I do something like this? It was all just pressing down on her again, her life in Azarath if they found out about her they wouldn’t accept her anymore.  
She got to the park and found a bench she could sit on, it wasn’t very busy due to the fact that it was a weekday. But some mothers with their young children were on the playground. She picked a bench looking out over the small pond. She sat there for a while, just thinking, wishing she could join them, that this wasn’t so difficult for her.  
She felt the bench dip in next to her.  
“Why don’t you want to join us?” Asked Richard looking concerned.  
Raven looked at him, “If you knew what I was you wouldn’t even be speaking to me. I don’t really fit in.”  
He chuckled slightly, “When you meet the rest of us you won’t think so, we have a green guy who changes into animals, I don’t know how he got that way or where he is from, all I care about is that he can help. So what do you say?”  
“I don’t...”  
“Just come and meet the rest of us and then you can answer me, okay?”  
“Yeah okay,” She would see what this is about, “are we going back to school?”  
“No it’s too late to go back now. Let’s go.” He stood up and she followed him.  
TTTTTTTTTTTTT  
She followed him to an apartment building in the richer area of Jump. He looked at her and beckoned her to follow him inside. The inside of the building was big and decorated in a monochrome modern style. The man at the desk greeted Richard, and then they continued to the elevator. After getting in he pushed the number for the tenth floor.  
“Don’t be too shocked when you see them. And also don’t stare, especially at Cyborg. ”  
She wanted to ask who Cyborg was, but decided to wait until she met this person.  
“Okay, I won’t. Are there more people up there?” Raven asked.  
“Yeah, one. His name is Beast Boy.”  
That’s a strange name, but so was Cyborg. Raven thought to herself  
After a little while they reached their floor, but when the door opened she saw that it led straight into the apartment. They stepped through the door and into a small entrance hall.  
The entrance hall led into an open plan kitchen and living room. The living room had a flat screen TV and a black leather corner couch to the left was the kitchen with a bar table type thing. Two doors were situated on either side of the elevator.  
Richard walked into the living room and Raven followed him, in the kitchen were two boys... Kind of. Raven was shocked but knew immediately which one Cyborg was. He was human but most of his body was made of metal and robot looking parts. The other boy, Beast Boy, was really green.  
“Hey Rob!” Cyborg greeted seeing his friend enter, “who’s this?” He asked looking at Raven.  
Upon hearing that another person was present Beast Boy looked up. “Yo Rob, you finally got yourself a girl?” He mocked.  
Raven ignored the comment and looked uncertainly at Richard not knowing what to think of these two people. “This is Racheal, she might be joining our team.”  
“Might be?” Cyborg questioned.  
“Yeah, might be.” Raven replied in a harsh tone and Beast Boy backed up a bit. Cyborg looked at Richard. Richard just shrugged.  
“Well this is where the team gets together almost every afternoon. We usually hang out in the living room. Sometimes some of us go out to fight crime, but only small things, most of us aren’t trained enough to handle the big guys.” Richard said trying to convince Raven to at least check things out here.  
“Dude! I could so take out one of those guys by myself!” Beast Boy emphasized this by flexing his almost non-existent arm muscles. He wasn’t weak, just built lean.  
“You wish green bean,” Cyborg said ruffling his hair.  
“Ignoring them, why don’t you just stay here for a while and see what you think?”  
Raven looked at their faces, they obviously wanted her to stay. “Yeah, okay I’ll stay for a while.”  
“Yeah!” Both Beast Boy and Cyborg cheered at the same time.  
“Great, I hope you change your mind about joining us, let’s watch some TV or play video games.”  
Beast Boy and Cyborg took this as their chance to play video games while Raven and Richard watched. They were playing some car game.  
“How long have you been here, planning to do this?” Raven asked Richard as Cyborg momentarily took the lead in their game.  
“It started a few months ago I worked with someone in Gotham but about 5 months ago I decide that I don’t want to be a sidekick anymore. I came to Jump because they don’t have a hero here, on the first night that I patrolled I found Beast Boy and Cyborg. I was fighting someone and they came to help me. That was about 4 months ago since then I have been looking for people to join the team.”  
Raven didn’t know what to say to that so she looked at the TV; where Beast Boy and Cyborg had started a new round of the game. It was still a while before school came out and she only started work at 6. It might not be such a bad idea to join, maybe they wouldn’t be so hard on her about her powers.  
“I don’t understand why you don’t start this whole superhero thing? Even if all of you aren’t that strong you do have a few people in the team, I’m sure you could hold your own with the villains?”  
“Yeah, but,” Richard looked thoughtful and glanced at Beast Boy and Cyborg, “the thing is I was planning on sending a team to Steel City, they don’t have anyone protecting them there.”  
“Wait, you’re gonna send some of us away!!” Beast Boy exclaimed.  
TTTTTTTTT  
Richard sighed, “Yeah I have to, as I said they don’t have anyone protecting them over there.”  
“Who are you going to send away?” Cyborg asked as he paused the game.  
Well I was looking at all of your skill levels to see how they compare, and who thrives in different areas. And I have decided to send Wally, Karen, Roy and Kole to Steel City.”  
Beast Boy gave an exaggerated sigh, “So you mean I’m gonna be stuck with this lump of metal? “  
Richard ignored him, “They already know and are preparing to leave, I have also contacted Aqualad and asked him to join them. Racheal if you joined the team we might be able to start up properly. I’d have to asses you first though. What do you say?”  
Raven looked at them, “I’ll think about it and let you know tomorrow. But I have to go now, I have things to do.”  
They said their goodbyes and she left.  
TTTTTTTTT  
Raven went to the park and found a quiet place to sit.  
She didn’t know if she wanted to join them. She had been thought not to use her powers, she always hid them and tried to be normal. What would happen if she used them here, would they accept her?  
She watched children play on the faraway playground, and mothers and fathers watch them with careful eyes, it was something she had never had, because of who she was, because of what she was. She tried not to think of it a lot, she didn’t want to feel the sadness, she quickly averted her eyes.  
Maybe if she used her powers for good no one would mind, they might accept them if she didn’t tell them what she was, or where she comes from. The team wouldn’t mind, they all had powers, she could fit in with them. And most superheroes kept their identities secret, no one would actually know it was her.  
She sat there quietly for a long while and thought about her choice. When 3 o’clock came she had made her choice and left the park, wandering through the streets. She didn’t want to see anyone from school now, but she still had a long while until her shift started. She decided to go home and do the homework she got in first and second period. The rest of the day went by slowly as she anticipated giving them her answer.  
TTTTTTTTT  
Raven got to school the next day just as the bell for first period rang, as usual. She went to her History class and sat next to Wally.  
“Hey Racheal.” He greeted brightly.  
“Good morning Wally, how are you today?”  
“I’m great, why are you in such a good mood?” He asked with a big smile, while still looking a bit confused.  
“I have some news for you, I’ll tell you at lunch. But you can probably guess what it is.” She said slightly smiling.  
“That’s great!” He said reaching for her arm, but she instinctively pulled away.  
“But I heard you are going to go down to Steel City, are you glad or did you want to stay here?” She asks feeling bad for pulling away from the friendly touch.  
He brightened up a bit, “no, I’m excited. I’ve never been there, have you?”  
“No I only moved to this side of the coast last year, haven’t had much time to travel.”  
The teacher chose that moment to walk into the classroom.  
“We’ll talk at break,” Raven said as she turned to focus on their teacher.  
TTTTTTTTT  
When lunch came Wally found Raven and they walked to the table together. When they got there Richard, Karen and Roy were already seated. Raven sat next to Karen.  
“So Racheal did you decide if you’re going to join us yet?” Richard asked.  
“I thought about it, and I have decided that I want to join you.”  
“That’s great, Beast Boy and Cyborg will be glad to hear that. They were both worried you wouldn’t want to join us.”  
“This is great, now you guys actually have enough people to start a team.” Karen said bumping her shoulder with Raven, she stiffened a bit at the contact but regained control quickly. She didn’t want to draw attention to herself.  
“What’s good news?” Kole asked as she got to the table and sat down.  
“Racheal decided to join the team, so now they can start practicing as real heroes,” Roy told her.  
Richard gave him an annoyed look, obviously they had talked about this previously.  
“Awesome, I can’t wait to see your powers,” Kole said excitably.  
Raven was shocked at the idea of all of them seeing her use her powers, she hadn’t shown anyone in a long while.  
“Wait, when are you going to test my powers?”  
“I think we should do it as soon as possible, so could you come to the apartment after school?” Richard answered.  
“Yeah sure, but I can’t stay too long I have to get ready for my job, I have to be there at six.”  
“Wait why do you have a job?” Wally asked.  
“I need to pay rent and buy food.”  
“Oh but what about,” he cleared his throat. “Never mind.”  
TTTTTTTTT  
The rest of the day went by fast as Raven feared for the test of her powers. This always happens; when you are afraid of something the time passes by too fast.  
But in the time Raven had decided that she needed to calm herself so that she had full control of her powers that afternoon. She couldn’t lose control or else they would reject her.  
All too soon the day ended and raven met up with the rest to walk to the apartment, she stayed behind them and chanted her mantra in her head. It had been such a long time since she tried to use her powers, she was worried that she wouldn’t be able to control them, or that they wouldn’t work.  
“Hey are you okay?” Kole asked matching her pace.  
“Yeah, I’m just nervous. I haven’t used my powers in a long time.” Raven glanced at the pink haired girl.  
“Why don’t you use your powers?”  
“I don’t have much use for them.”  
“Oh,” They didn’t talk the rest of the way but Kole kept walking next to her, a silent comfort.  
TTTTTTTTT  
When they in the apartment building instead of heading up to where they lived they headed down to the basement. They walked down a short corridor and went through double doors.  
The room was big. Stairs from the door went down five steps to make the ceiling higher. Most of the room was cleared but to the sides were some exercising equipment.  
“Wow, this place is really big,” Raven said, she felt intimidated by the big space.  
“Yeah, it’s where we practice,” Richard pointed to a door on the right wall, you can borrow some clothes if you want to?”  
“No it’s fine, I don’t need exercising clothes.”  
He raised his eyebrow. “Okay wait here while I get changed.” He walked to a door next to the one he had pointed out to her.  
“What exactly are your powers?” Karen asked looking at her critically.  
“Oh it’s not that great, but kinda hard to explain. What do you guys do?”  
“I can change size, fly and have combat training.” Karen said.  
“I’m the fastest boy alive, it comes with a lot of perks.” Wally said and proceeded to run a lap around the ‘gym’ at lightning speed.  
“I can change into a crystal shape, but can’t move while in that state, I can also create crystals.” Kole said but didn’t feel the need to show off like Wally had.  
Richard came out of the changing room, he was wearing sweatpants and a loose t-shirt.  
“Beast Boy and Cyborg will be down in a minute, we have to wait for them,” he rolled his eyes, “they begged me to wait.”  
“Well as we were saying before he interrupted, I don’t have actual powers. But I am a very skilled bowman and am highly trained in combat.” Roy said giving her a cocky grin.  
Raven looked at Richard. “What can you do?”  
“Oh uhm, I am trained in combat, detective skills, and stuff.”  
“Okay, so how are you going to test my powers?” Raven asked.  
“Depends on what you can do, we’ll match the tests to your powers.” Richard said as the doors bust open.  
“We’re here!” Beast boy said as he and Cyborg jogged over to them.  
“Okay now we can...” Richard started.  
“No wait I want to know what their powers are.” Raven said trying to stall a bit.  
“Beast Boy can change into animals and Cyborg is half robot and has weapons, they are both trained in combat. Now can we continue, you have a deadline?” Richard replied impatiently. “Do you have any combat skills?”  
“Not a lot, I only know a bit of defensive combat. I grew up as a pacifist so you know, no fighting really.”  
“Okay well, let’s start with that. You’re going to try and defend yourself from me, then we see where it goes.”  
TTTTTTTTTT  
Beast Boy, Cyborg, Wally, Roy, Kole and Karen were standing at the side of the room while Raven and Richard headed to a clear spot.  
Richard took a fighting stance while Raven stopped a while away from him. Raven crouched down into a defensive pose, and waited for Richard to attack.  
He started to circle around her and she copied him. He suddenly jumped at her, but she quickly dodged him and moved back a bit. He jumped at her again, faster this time, swinging his arm around. She dodged down and he brought a kick around at her low form.  
At the last second she brought her hand around and blocked his kick with a black shield, and then she forced him back with it. He looked shocked at the force with which she had pushed him back.  
The shield was a bit too strong for the purpose for which she conjured it. She cursed at herself mentally.  
Richard ran forward threw a jump kick at her but she brought up another shield and threw him off. He easily rolled back into a fighting stance and looked at her critically. They started circling each other again.  
After a few seconds Richard made up his mind and did the fastest attack yet, Raven couldn’t see exactly what he did but it was really quick. She reacted too fast and lifted some of the cement flooring to block him, after that she sent the block forward and almost squashed him.  
Raven cursed in panic and used her power to blow the block into pieces before it pushed Richard into the wall.  
Richard still hit the wall but at least he wasn’t squished. Hitting the wall had knocked his wind out. Raven rushed forward to make sure he was okay.  
“Sorry I didn’t mean to do that, it was an accident.” She quickly explains.  
He looked up at her and took a deep breath. “It’s fine, you just need to practice a bit, you haven’t used your powers much recently right?”  
“No I haven’t used it in more than half a year.”  
“That’s fine, so I think that test showed enough.” He said getting up and looking over her shoulder at the rest of the team.  
Raven glanced back at them, apparently they had also approached to make sure Richard was okay, some of them looked kinda shocked.  
“That was so COOL!” Beast Boy exclaimed looking at Raven and then at the big hole where the cement block use to be. Raven shyly pulled her hood forward a bit, and looked back at Richard questioningly.  
“You’re in the team.” He said smiling up at her.  
Raven gave him a small smile while holding back her emotions, she didn’t want something else to happen.  
“This didn’t take that long so let’s go celebrate the new addition to our team!” Cyborg said.  
Everyone agreed with him and they headed up to the apartment.  
TTTTTTTTTTTTTT  
When they got there most of them went to the kitchen and some sat on the bar stools while they got some snacks. But Raven went to go sit on the couch alone, and calmed herself by pushing back her emotions and ‘listening’ to the teams one at a time.  
They all seemed to be happy but some were still shocked. Beast Boys emotions were particularly strong, while she struggled to read Kole. She felt someone come closer to her and looked up to see Cyborg. He looked startled at her sudden movement. She cursed and made a mental note not to do that.  
“Why are you sitting over here? We got some snacks.” He said looking curiously at her.  
“I... don’t really fit into ... I don’t really fit in anywhere.” She looked down at her hands lying on her lap. “So I’m just trying to get a feel for you.”  
“C’mon, sure you fit in here. You’re not the strangest person here, I’m half robot and Beast Boy is green. You fit in just fine.” He smiled down at her, then he looked thoughtful for a second, “what do you mean you’re getting a feel for us?”  
Raven blushed and kept her eyes averted. “Nothing...”  
“Well then why don’t you come and eat with us?” He asked but didn’t wait to pull her with him to the kitchen.  
She took one of the remaining bar stools and pulled it further away from the rest of them and sat down, she half-heartedly listened to their conversation but she didn’t eat. They were chatting excitedly about what was going to happen next, now that they were in actual teams.  
“So Raven, where are you from?” She looked up at Wally who had asked the question, and thought about her answer.  
“Well to be honest this past while before I came here I just kind of drifted around.” She finally answered carefully not wanting to give anything away. She looked at the clock on the wall. “Sorry, I have to go I still have a few things to do before I have to go to work.” She got up suddenly and left with a few quick goodbyes.  
Raven slowly walked through the streets. She was happy about being accepted into the team but it would mean a lot of control, and like Richard said it’s going to take practice.  
TTTTTTTTTT  
When Raven got to history the next morning Wally was already there.  
“Hey Rach, how’re you?” He asked giving her a bright smile.  
“Hello Wally, I’m fine, and how are you?”  
“I’m great!” He said excitedly.  
“Why are you so excited?” Raven asked, confused.  
“It’s Friday, almost weekend, who wouldn’t be excited?”  
“Oh...” She hadn’t even realized it was Friday yet. “I guess that is good.” She said finally taking her seat after taking out her books.  
“What are your plans for the weekend?” He asked cheerfully.  
“I don’t really have any plans, I guess I’ll just see what happens.”  
“Oh, well most of us are going to go train at Dicks place, but he’ll probably tell you about that at break. But if you don’t have any plans, some of us are going to go watch a movie, wanna come with.”  
Raven subconsciously scowled at the idea before pulling a blank look on her face again. “No, sorry movies don’t really go well with me.” The bell rang and students slowly started filing into the class.  
“Oh okay, maybe we’ll hang out at the apartment after training.” He said sounding hopeful.  
She gave him a small smile. “Yeah, I guess.” She said as the teacher entered the room.  
TTTTTTTT  
When the bell for lunch rang Raven headed to the cafeteria and found the table where the rest of the team was sitting. Karen and Kole were the only ones already there.  
“Hello, where are the others?” Raven questioned them, Richard was usually there by the time she got there.  
“Oh hey, they are just busy with some things, I’m sure they’ll be here later.” Karen said gesturing for Raven to come sit next to her. Raven took the offered seat.  
“Did Wally tell you about the scary movie we’re going to go see tomorrow?” Kole asked from the other side of Karen.  
“Yeah, but I’m not going. I don’t always do well with scary movies.”  
Karen scoffed, “it’s not going to be that bad, you should really come and get to know the team, anyway we are also leaving soon so you only have a little while left to hang with us.”  
Raven didn’t understand how you get to know people while watching a movie, “but aren’t you supposed to be quiet in a cinema? How do you get to know people while watching a movie? Or am I missing something because I’ve never actually been in a cinema?”  
Kole looked at her strangely, “well you can talk before and after the movie we might go get something to eat. How have you never been to a cinema?”  
“Oh uhm ... well where I’m from we didn’t have cinemas and when I moved away I was too busy to actually go to one.”  
Karen smiled at her, “then you have no excuse, we need to take you to go watch a movie on the big screen.  
“Okay fine I’ll...” Raven felt a sharp pain in her head, “No... this shouldn’t happen.” She whispered to herself as he grabbed at her head.  
Kole fretted and came to Ravens side at her pained expression. “Are you okay? What happened?”  
The pain receded a bit, “nothing I’ll be fine.” Raven tried to hide the pain but she was sure they could see right through her. “I have to go I’ll see you guys around.”  
She quickly got up ignoring their protests, and hurried away from everyone. She ignored all of them for the rest of the day and went straight home after school.  
TTTTTTTT  
After Raven got home from her shift at the restaurant that night she was exhausted, the pain in her head hadn’t completely gone away, and her shift had dragged. She didn’t even get dressed and fell into bed in her day clothes and immediately fell asleep.  
But after a while of dreamless sleep she heard the voices.  
We have her... Should have kept quiet... He’s going to be happy.  
TTTTTTTT  
Raven didn’t go to the movies and didn’t go to train with the team, she kept to herself only going to work, she didn’t get much sleep she just kept hearing the voices when she tried. The pain in her head a constant reminder. She wasn’t going to run, there was no point in that anymore  
TTTTTTTT  
Raven didn’t know why she went to school anymore, at this point it was just a waste. Thoughts like this were running through her mind as she walked into class on Monday and saw Wally sitting in his usual place.  
“Hey Rach.” Wally said looking a bit confused, “where were you this weekend, none of us saw you?”  
“I was busy.”  
“Dick is mad, he thinks you’re not serious about this, and he thinks you need every chance you can to practice your powers.”  
“Wally, just tell him I’m not doing it anymore.”  
Wally looked at her with wide eyes and a slack jaw, after a moment he composed himself. “Are you serious they really need you to help them?”  
“Tell him something came up and I can’t do it anymore.”  
“Raven...” He was cut off by the teacher loudly clearing his throat. Wally turned away and they didn’t talk for the rest of the lesson.  
TTTTTTTT  
She didn’t talk to any of them and avoided the cafeteria at lunch. After school she wanted to go home and just sleep, but a while away from school she saw Richard waiting for her.  
She tried to avoid him but he walked straight to her.  
“Racheal, why have you been ignoring us?”  
“I.. I have something that came up.”  
“Kole and Karen said you were with them at the start of lunch and that you might’ve joined us going to see a movie but then you had a pain in your head and you left... What happened? We can help, you can trust us.”  
She looked into his eyes trying to find any reason to distrust him, to make this easier for her. But looking into his eyes she found concern for her, he was worried. She found that he trusted her, that trust that they had built up in the past year of knowing each other.  
How could she abandon him if he needed her, he was the closest thing she had t a friend and he needed her help.  
She looked away and tried to hold back her emotions, but a tear escaped from her eye as the street light closest to them exploded.  
Richard jumped at the sudden explosion, but he had seen the black energy that had caused the explosion.  
“Why did you do that?” He asked confused.  
She looked up wiping her face. “Sorry I didn’t mean to, it was an accident.”  
He looked down at her. “I think we need to talk this through, you can’t just leave with no explanation.”  
Raven thought about it, and she knew he wasn’t going to leave her alone unless she talked to him. “Okay, we can talk.” She said and cleared her throat.  
“Not here let’s go back to the apartment.”  
TTTTTTTTTT  
They walked in awkward silence to the apartment. Raven could feel the confusion and concern coming from Richard. She wished that she didn’t have to deal with all of this, she didn’t know what she was going to say once they got to the apartment. It was after school so all of them would be there.  
When they got to the building Richard paused at the door for a split second. He was making a choice. When he moved again he didn’t go to the elevator, instead he took her to the ‘gym’ where he had assessed her powers. He opened the double doors of the gym and went to sit on the steps. Raven hesitated but went to sit next to him.  
“What happened? Why don’t you want to join us anymore?”  
Raven thought about it, opened her mouth to say something, then closed it again. She sighed and pulled at her hood. “It’s not that I don’t want to join you, it’s just that I don’t know if I can anymore. I don’t think it would be a good idea.”

“Is it because you don’t think you fit in?” He asked.  
Raven shook her head, “No, it’s just that if I do join you... Some things came up that could make it messy. And it could hurt the whole team very badly.” Also possibly kill them, but she left that part out.  
“What came up? What could hurt us? We know how to protect ourselves, and we’ll help you.”  
“You can’t speak for the whole team, they barely know me, they actually don’t know me at all. They would never hurt themselves to save me, and you shouldn’t either. I’m not worth it.”  
“If you just told me what’s going on I might be able to help you.”  
“It’s just that... There are people after me, people who are very bad and very strong.” What was he going to think now that he knew there were ‘people’ after her. Would he decide that she had done something to deserve it? Would he think she had done something wrong?  
“What do they want? Do they want to kill you?”  
Raven thought about it, and pulled her hood forward, she couldn’t tell him the truth. “Yes,” she lied, “they want to kill me.” She looked down at her hands.  
“Racheal, even if the team doesn’t know you that well, they are kind of, or trying to become, superheroes. They would want to protect you if they knew.” He said trying to put a comforting hand on her back. She stiffened at the touch, she wasn’t use to people touching her. But she tried to relax.  
She took a deep breath, nothing would happen too soon, she still had time. When the time came she could just leave, maybe this would even make her stronger. But she didn’t want the team to know anything. “Okay”.  
“So you’ll join us?” He said as he took his hand off of her back.  
“Yes, but on one condition. Richard you have to promise me you won’t tell them any of this, Okay?”  
He thought about it for a while and then answered. “Okay, but most of the team call me Robin or Rob.” He smiled, “So Racheal do we have a deal?”  
“I guess we do, Robin.”  
TTTTTTTTTT  
Robin and Raven left the gym and went upstairs.  
“So what are you going to say to them? About me changing my mind about joining the team?”  
Robin thought about it for a long while before he spoke, “I’ll just tell them that you weren’t sure about your powers or something. I don’t even have to say anything if you don’t want me to. I’ll just tell them you changed your mind again... But are you sure that you want to it? You won’t change your mind again?”  
Raven knew she had to leave them and this city if it came down to the point, “I don’t think so.” She didn’t want to lie to him, he had put his trust in her.  
He gave her a comforting smile and a few seconds later they got to the apartment.  
When they walked into the living area Raven saw Wally, Karen, Kole, and Roy talking around the kitchen table. Beast Boy and Cyborg were playing some videogame, she wondered if that was the only thing they did?  
When they heard Robin and Raven enter they turned to look at them.  
Karen looked shocked, “Hey Racheal, what are you doing here?”  
Raven looked at Robin, she didn’t know what to say.  
Robin cleared his throat, “Racheal has decided that she will join the team. We talked about it and she is sure of her decision, right?”  
At the last word he looked at her. “Yes, I’m sure this time."  
“Okay, well then you have to get to know the team better.” Robin said as he walked through one of the doors next to the elevator.  
Everyone continued what they were doing and Raven awkwardly stood there for a while. She decided to go sit on the couch, she sat next to Cyborg as he was the closest. She needed to get to know them, as they would be her immediate teammates. But she didn’t even know what to say to them, she doesn’t start many conversations unless she knows the person well.  
She also didn’t know a lot about video games, she had never played one or really seen how people played it.


End file.
